Romania’s sovereign fund law is unconstitutional

Romania’s Constitutional Court (CCR) ruled on Wednesday, July 18, that the law for setting up the Sovereign Development and Investment Fund, recently passed by the Parliament, is unconstitutional. The law was adopted on June 6 and provided that the state’s stakes in 33 important companies would be transferred to this fund, with an initial capital of some RON 9 billion (EUR 1.93 billion). President Klaus Iohannis and the opposition parties challenged the law at the Constitutional Court. The Court ruled on Wednesday that the law was unconstitutional because this fund should be set up by Government decision, according to CCR president Valer Dorneanu, local Hotnews.ro reported. Former prime minister Victor Ponta, a former leader of the ruling Social Democratic Party (PSD), said the Constitutional Court’s decision stopped the biggest theft from Romania’s wealth after 1989, which would have cost the country some EUR 10 billion, according to local Mediafax. editor@romania-insider.com